IDC: smart glasses drove almost all of 2025's 44% XR growth
Global XR device shipments grew 44.4% in 2025, to 14.5 million units, and IDC credits almost all of that growth to one category: smart glasses, not headsets.
Global XR device shipments grew 44.4% in 2025, to 14.5 million units, and IDC credits almost all of that growth to one category: smart glasses, not headsets.
Glasses now account for roughly half of all XR shipments, up from about a quarter the year before, and are outselling VR and MR devices by close to three to one. IDC forecasts another 33.5% growth in 2026, and a 26.5% compound annual rate out to 2030.
Most of that volume carries no display at all. Shipments of display-less smart glasses rose 167% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2026 alone - about 2.25 million units, close to matching everything shipped in the whole of 2024.
The industry spent a decade building toward a screen on your face. The category actually taking off looks more like an ordinary pair of glasses with a microphone and a speaker - nothing to look at, something to hear. That is a different design problem than the one most of the industry has been solving.
